It has long been recognized that the inherent advantages of the turbine engine, particularly its inherent clean burning characteristics and its high power-to-volume ratio, make the turbine engine a desirable alternative to the reciprocating piston engine for many applications. However, the reciprocating piston engine having been more or less universally adopted, the automotive and other industries have very large investments in engine production facilities, and the design of automobiles and other products is predicated on the reciprocating piston engine, so that commercial interest in turbine engines has been inhibited. Recent anti-polution requirements have increased the interest in all alternatives to the reciprocating piston engine, and new advances in turbine engines have been made. To date, however, no turbine engine has been devised which is truly satisfactory for automotive and like applications.
Failure of prior-art workers to provide such an engine has resulted from a number of difficulties. One problem has been that not any gas turbine combustor has been devised which is almost completely free of harmful exhaust pollutants, particularly the oxides of nitrogen and at the same time is compact, simple and low in cost to produce. Another problem is starting the combustor at low speeds and at high altitudes without expensive high pressure fuel injection means.